A Cap for Yachting

[rmhutch59]

Goog choice, the skipper had one just like it, be careful about 3 hour tours thorough.

[Bill_Giles]

If I wore something like that in my sailing club I would be laughed at and never be able to show my face again without someone reminding me. Since I grew a beard and achieved my seventh decade I have only just been able to wear one of these without ridicule, although i nearly had to take up smoking a pipe.

I am always amused at the US designation of the person in charge of a boat, however tiny the craft, as ‘Captain’. In the UK the person in charge of a small craft is the ‘Skipper’, Even the captain of a warship is often a skipper although not necessarily to his (or her these days) face.

https://www.nauticalia.com/clothing/...iABEgLAzvD_BwE

[SuW]

Originally Posted by StuM

I'd call that a "tosser cap" rather than a "yachting cap"

OK, settle down there in steerage!

[John Murphy 5]

rbc, I have a long time occupied Osprey ( Pandion ) nest at the end of my pier on the Chesapeake Bay. My former Ericson was named Pandion. PLZ, post where You purchased the Osprey pin. FYI, Your hat design efforts produced a nice looking "cover" ( US Navy term ). But, You could have gotten the same result with an e-m to Commodore Uniforms.com, and probably saved a few dubloons. BTW, Yacht Club: "rules" don't apply to non-members. Sorry Chapman. You can wear any kind of hat with insignias that You want, as evidenced by the chapeaus mentioned by others in the blog. A white hat will be cooler in the summer sun. Blue is traditionally reserved for winter dress. Again, PLZ post the source for the Osprey pin. Many Thanx. Fair Winds......MRF

[rbc]

Originally Posted by John Murphy 5

rbc, I have a long time occupied Osprey ( Pandion ) nest at the end of my pier on the Chesapeake Bay. My former Ericson was named Pandion. PLZ, post where You purchased the Osprey pin. FYI, Your hat design efforts produced a nice looking "cover" ( US Navy term ). But, You could have gotten the same result with an e-m to Commodore Uniforms.com, and probably saved a few dubloons. BTW, Yacht Club: "rules" don't apply to non-members. Sorry Chapman. You can wear any kind of hat with insignias that You want, as evidenced by the chapeaus mentioned by others in the blog. A white hat will be cooler in the summer sun. Blue is traditionally reserved for winter dress. Again, PLZ post the source for the Osprey pin. Many Thanx. Fair Winds......MRF

Thanks for the remarks. The pin came from Amazon. Here's the link:

Osprey Pin ~ Antiqued Pewter ~ Lapel Pin ~ Sarah's Treats & Treasures

[wd4h]

Tilley, Has a fine line of great sailing/adventure headgear. My T5 hat has been my favorite for many years and I only bought one about 30 years ago. Since then I have sent the hat back to 🇨🇦 Because I’m hard on hats and simply wear them out and the company sends me back a brand new one, free! On my 3rd one now. Check out Tilley.com.

[Southern Ocean]

Having trawled through all 7 pages of response in this thread I am surprised that no one mentioned the original Sou’Wester.... that yellow plastic hat worn by Maine fishermen of yesteryear! I have been manufacturing foul weather clothing since 1987 and for all these years I have quietly considered what an ideal hat for foul weather might be.... and so I made a Sou’Wester. What a fantastic design! It fits snugly, has ear flaps, a chin strap and excellent protection around the neck. The only thing was... people laughed their heads off seeing me wear it! But of course I had the last laugh at 40knts. So I decided to develop a cross over hat that incorporates features of the original Sou’Wester and a ball cap. Made in waterproof/breathable fabric. After weeks of design modifications I will have my first sample in a week or so. If there is interest on this forum I will follow up with a test report. Cheers!

[CyKlop]

"... being a great bother..." (I know you meant brother but...)

Yeah, my bro' can be a great bother too, like the time he sunk my Fireball in an inlet.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Southern Ocean

Having trawled through all 7 pages of response in this thread I am surprised that no one mentioned the original Sou’Wester.... that yellow plastic hat worn by Maine fishermen of yesteryear!

Didn't know they had plastic back in the early 1800's

And I think you'll find that the style and name come from the UK where the Sou-West winds bring heavy rain. (Is the same true for Maine? )

[Franziska]

Please do.

Guess the old Sou'Wester were made out of a waxed or oiled cotton fabric before plastic became available.

Originally Posted by Southern Ocean

Having trawled through all 7 pages of response in this thread I am surprised that no one mentioned the original Sou’Wester.... that yellow plastic hat worn by Maine fishermen of yesteryear! I have been manufacturing foul weather clothing since 1987 and for all these years I have quietly considered what an ideal hat for foul weather might be.... and so I made a Sou’Wester. What a fantastic design! It fits snugly, has ear flaps, a chin strap and excellent protection around the neck. The only thing was... people laughed their heads off seeing me wear it! But of course I had the last laugh at 40knts. So I decided to develop a cross over hat that incorporates features of the original Sou’Wester and a ball cap. Made in waterproof/breathable fabric. After weeks of design modifications I will have my first sample in a week or so. If there is interest on this forum I will follow up with a test report. Cheers!

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by StuM

Didn't know they had plastic back in the early 1800's

And I think you'll find that the style and name come from the UK where the Sou-West winds bring heavy rain. (Is the same true for Maine? )

Excellent questions, StuM!

The earliest mentions in print, of which I am aware, include:

1831 south wester cap (no location given);

1837 sou-wester (no location given)

1842 a sou'wester hat tied under his chin, (in Charles Dickens, American Notes for General Distribution, a travelogue of his time in the US in January thru June 1842; and

1848 a species of hat ... usually termed a sou'wester, (Dickens, again referring to his experience in the US in '42).

I've always had the understanding that the design was named, pioneered, and perfected by clothing manufacturers (likely in Boston) supplying fishers working the western North Atlantic, especially fishers working out of ports in Massachusetts and New England. I think the appearance of the term in Dickens, reporting for Englanders on his experiences in the US, are strong evidence in favour of that. Dickens would not have commented on the hat and its name if it had existed in his homeland.

Of course US fishers working the Grand Banks were familiar with European fishers (including no doubt Brits). And an enterprising Brit fisher might well have bartered with a US fisher to take an example hat back to Perfidious Albion.

As for SW winds, OED lists the earliest Brit author using the term in 1833: He felt a longing hope that he might fall in with the Dolly in the Channel, although the prevalence of the south-westers rendered it improbable.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

I've always had the understanding that the design was named, pioneered, and perfected by clothing manufacturers (likely in Boston) supplying fishers working the western North Atlantic, especially fishers working out of ports in Massachusetts and New England.

Interestingly, German Wikipedia thinks it originated in Norway

https://translate.google.com/transla...search&pto=aue

(https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Südwester)

A southwest (English Sou'wester ; [1] norweg. Sydvest ) is a waterproof headgear for seafarers . It is made from oil cloth or plastic as the upper material and partly cotton as the lining . Southwesters have a wide brim that overhangs at the back so that no rainwater can run into their clothing. The naming after the direction from which most of the rain comes may come from Norwegian, as does the hat itself .

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by StuM

Interestingly, German Wikipedia thinks it originated in Norway

Pfft!

Here are two versions of a reference to an exhibition held in 1883 in the capital of rosbif land of a 'Cape Ann sou'wester' made by A J Tower of Boston, Mass.

https://americanhistory.si.edu/colle...ct/nmah_859468
https://americanhistory.si.edu/onthe...9.0157.03.html

Charlie Dickens's reference of his sighting of sou'wester hats in 1842 beat that 1880 reference.

And the print references in 1831 and 1837 go back further (and are well founded).

Should your German friends come up with some hard evidence, instead of generic hand-waving in the direction of Norway, tell us about it.

[BlackHeron]

First world problems. Spending months "putting.together" a tosser cap for your yachting pleasure?

Do you have paid crew or a land employees cleaning and maintaining your yacht while you fiddle with uniform headgear?

[rbc]

Originally Posted by BlackHeron

First world problems. Spending months "putting.together" a tosser cap for your yachting pleasure?

Do you have paid crew or a land employees cleaning and maintaining your yacht while you fiddle with uniform headgear?

No, it's just me and my wife.